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Bill O'Reilly made an appearance on Letterman last night in which he repeated a covenient falsehood to perpetuate his war against those who don't think public school is an appropriate venue for religious training. During his post-holiday diatribe about the non-existent war on Christmas, O'Reilly called the folks at Ridgewell [sic] Elementary School in Wisconsin "pinheads" because they supposedly altered the words to Silent Night. O'Reilly's refusal to drop the inanity prompted Letterman to comment that he had a feeling that 60% of what O'Reilly says is crap.
OK. Ridgewood Elementary School in Dodgeville, Wisconsin. Song, "Silent Night." "Silent Night," you know? Knocked out the words and told the little kids to sing, "Cold in the night. No one in sight. Winter winds whine and bite. How I wish I was happy and warm. Safe with my family out of the storm." They replaced the words to "Silent Night" with that. Now, with all due respect, I think even think the baby Jesus would say, "Give me a break." You know? You want another one? [Media Matters]
Billy-boy and his Christotheocratic friends at the Liberty Counsel firmly believe that [Christian] religious training should be a core component to a public school education, as noted by O'Reilly's multiple [innaccurate] comments about lyric revisions over the past month and the Liberty Counsel's condemnation of the "secularized rendition" of the song. The group also noted that since Christmas is a state and federal holiday, religious aspects to the celebration of the holiday should be mandated in public schools.
For those of you who may not understand why some parents (and students) might object to singing completely innocuous songs in music class or the school choir's winter recital, I remind you of the lyrics of the song Silent Night [emphasis added]
Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon virgin, mother and child
Holy infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace
Silent night, holy night
Shepherds quake at the sight
Glories stream from heaven afar
Heav'nly hosts sing Alleluia
Christ the savior is born
Christ the savior is born
Silent night, holy night
Son of G-d, love's pure light
Radiant beams from thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace
Jesus Lord, at thy birth
Jesus Lord, at thy birth
Tags:1st Amendment; Religion; Christmas; Bill "It's not a lie, it's what I want to be true" O'ReillySphere: Related Content
Count the Miliani family among those who had a less than joyous holiday season. While people were wishing for something on this year's "hot" list, the best present and way to start the new year off right the Miliani's could have received was a sign that 29-year old Rossana Miliani was safe & on her way home. Rossana was last heard from December 7, 2005 while staying at the Ramada Inn in Cherokee, NC courtesy of a local Methodist Pastor named David. She has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder/schizophrenia but has not been taking her medication.Miliani is 5'8", weighs approximately 225 pounds, has brown eyes & long wavy brown hair. She also has a large tatoo of a lotus flower on her lower back and small shards of glass on her upper arm from a car accident. She is fluent in Spanish & Italian and was working on learning French as well. If you have any information on her disappearance and/or whereabouts, please contact Deputy Sosa at (954) 491-3920 and reference case #LS05-12-00300.Follow-up to last month's Missing Monday: Unfortunately for the family of missing Forward Township woman Patricia McDonald, she was found dead last Monday in her truck by a local hunter. McDonald's truck apparently veered of the road and crashed in a wooded hillside along route 51.Campaign for the Missing: Kelly Jolkowski of Project Jason - Voice for the Missing is looking for volunteers to aid in the mission of passing legislation in each state to imporve law enforcement's ability to locate missing persons in a timely fashion. What is Campaign for the Missing 2006?
Campaign for the Missing 2006 is a grassroots effort to pass legislation in each state that will serve to improve the law enforcement community's ability to locate and ensure a safe return of missing persons. It will address the national problems of missing persons and the identification of human remains and provide the framework for improving law enforcement's response. It will also improve the collection of critical information about missing persons, prioritize high-risk missing persons cases, and ensure prompt dissemination of critical information to other law enforcement agencies and the public that can improve the likelihood of a safe return.
The Department of Justice, working with Federal, State, and local law enforcement; coroners and medical examiners; victim advocates; forensic scientists; key policymakers; and family members who have lived through this tragic experience, developed the model to be presented in each state’s legislature.
As Kelly notes in her own blog, participation represents a significant committment that exceeds a letter writing campaign. She needs someone with the time to dog state senators as necessary to sponsor some new legislation. More information is available at Voice for the Missing.Links to more Missing Monday posts from Philly area bloggers at Philly Future.Tags: Missing PersonsSphere: Related Content
I just trekked over to Shakes' where I found the following uproariously funny quote from he who is sullying the office of the presidency [emphasis added]President Bush on Sunday strongly defended his domestic spying program, saying it's a limited program that tracks only incoming calls to the United States. [AP via Yahoo]
If I recall correctly, the Preznit and his merry band of thieves (as well as their fan club) had pitched a fit about the leak of the secret (because it's illegal) NSA domestic spying and how that revelation has damaged national security by publicly informing "the terrorists" how we're spying on them. If this is true, then the shrub's public statement that only incoming calls are being spied upon has given away what sort of information? My guess is that the terrorists, unlike your average American citizen who naively expects our government to follow laws, probably expected BushCo to break our laws and spy on anyone they deem the enemy and accuse of being a threat to the country (i.e., those who didn't vote for them). I'm also guessing that the terrorists, like many jaded Americans, don't exactly believe Bushie when he says the program is what a rational person would consider "limited".Santa tracks celebraters of Christmas all year round - there are no blackout dates or presidential reprieves. I hope this means Santa will support starting to spread the holiday a little earlier than normal, say at the beginning of November.Tags: The Bushevik Revolution; politics; protecting the WHIG; we're America, we own the world; BBA; conservatismSphere: Related Content
A new year and yet another story showing that BushCo is only willing to listen to people who tell them what they want to hear. BushCo chief of staff Andy Card and former WH General Counsel (long-time Bush Crony and current AG) Alberto Gonzales made an emergency visit to former AG John Ashcroft while recovering from gall-bladder surgery and being treated for pancreatitis in GWU's ICU in March 2004. Even assuming Ashcroft was housed in the ICU instead of on the floor of the house for non-clinical reasons, this wasn't your standard "hey we hope you get well soon" hospital visit. This visit was prompted because acting AG John Comey apparently had enough concerns about central aspects to the NSA's domestic spying program that he wasn't willing to approve them. I guess that Comey didn't know that a request from Dubya and friends is an order - George is king after all.Tags: The Bushevik Revolution; politics; protecting the WHIG; we're America, we own the world; BBA; conservatismSphere: Related Content
